Emirates Airlines Soars With New Windows 8 Business Application and HP Tablet Experience

REDMOND, Washington, Nov. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Emirates, one of the fastest-growing airlines in the world, announced today at the Windows 8 launch event in Dubai the development of a line-of-business application for Windows 8 called Knowledge Driven Inflight Service (KIS). An in-flight communication and customer relationship management device first introduced by Emirates for its pursers in 2004, the KIS application will now run on the soon-to-be-launched HP ElitePad 900 business tablets and will enable Emirates to continue to deliver extraordinary customer service and experiences.

"At Emirates, we strive to deliver the world's best in-flight experience," said Kevin Griffiths, senior vice president, Cabin Crew at Emirates. "We constantly invest in the best aircraft, products and service. To support our crew, we have created an application on Windows 8 that delivers a unique, personalized experience with the necessary information for our cabin crew to better serve the needs of customers. The Windows 8 platform running on HP ElitePad 900 devices gave us this option, allowing us to create the KIS app that enables our crew to offer an experience not available on other airlines."

Pursers on the flight use the KIS application to brief the cabin crew before every flight and understand how to best meet the personal preferences and needs of passengers. The crew can also use the application to easily conduct in-flight upgrades to business class or first class for Emirates Skywards members, as well as customer feedback that is immediately routed to headquarters upon landing.

As the first global customer of the HP ElitePad 900, Emirates is creating a new KIS tablet that is light, attractive and has a long battery life, ideal for nonstop flights. The device, announced by HP in October and available to customers in January 2013, is built specifically for business users, offering Windows 8 optimization and a beautiful lightweight design. Combined with Windows 8's touch-optimized user interface, which quickly shows the most important information via Live Tiles, the crew can spend more time interacting with customers in a unique and efficient way.

When deployment across its fleet is complete, Emirates will have 1,000 HP ElitePad 900 devices running the KIS application on Windows 8. More information on the KIS application running on Windows 8 is available at the Microsoft Showcase.

Emirates operates more than 2,500 flights per week to 126 destinations in 74 countries across six continents. The award-winning airline operates the largest fleet of A380s with 27, and the world's largest fleet of Boeing 777s.